This article highlights Graduate School news, events and current student and graduate faculty successes:
- Graduate Student Ambassador program
- K-State Graduate Research, Arts, Discovery (K-GRAD) Forum
- Capitol Graduate Research Summit winners
- Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award winners
- Arts, Humanities and Social Science Small Research Grant winners
News
Graduate Student Ambassador Program
In an effort to promote graduate programs at K-State and help with recruitment, the Graduate School will start a Graduate Student Ambassador Program for the 2016-17 academic year. Kansas State University Graduate Student Ambassadors are current graduate students who come from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds and are selected to serve as official student representatives. Ambassadors will support prospective, new and current students by providing campus tours, interacting with students through email or assisting at graduate student events. Ambassadors also serve as liaisons between their department and the Graduate School.
Learn more about the Graduate Student Ambassador Program.
Events
K-GRAD
Over 160 graduate students will present research and scholarly work through a poster or oral presentation at this year’s K-State Graduate Research, Arts, and Discovery (K-GRAD) Forum on Wednesday, March 30 in the Engineering Complex. K-GRAD is an annual showcase of K-State graduate student research, scholarly work, and discovery. This on-campus event provides graduate students from all disciplines an opportunity to share their work with the K-State community and to gain experience presenting their work in a professional setting. Graduate students participating in the K-State GRAD Forum are instructed to communicate their work in a way that can be understood by the general public. K-State faculty judges will select up to the top three presenters to receive scholarship awards in a variety of categories. The award ceremony will take place between 4:15-5:00 p.m. in the Engineering Complex.
Alumni are highly encouraged to attend this event to interact with graduate students and witness current research. Learn more about K-GRAD.
Awards
Three graduate students named winners at statewide research summit
Three Kansas State University graduate students received statewide recognition for their Kansas-related research at the 13th Capitol Graduate Research Summit, Feb. 2, at the State Capitol in Topeka.
Matthew Galliart, master’s student in biology, Hutchinson, and Caroline Ylioja, doctoral student in animal sciences, Canada, were the two Kansas State University winners and received $500
scholarships from the university’s Graduate School. Marcus Olatoye, doctoral student in agronomy, Nigeria, was the Kansas State University winner of the $500 BioKansas scholarship, which is supported by BioKansas.
The Capitol Graduate Research Summit is a statewide event that features current graduate student research of graduate students at Kansas State University, the University of Kansas, the University of Kansas Medical Center, Wichita State University, Fort Hays University and Pittsburgh State University. Each university invited a university professor and an industry representative to judge the student poster presentations. The top presenters from each university received awards.
Read more about the Capitol Graduate Research Summit.
Agronomy, chemical engineering professors earn Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award
P.V. Vara Prasad, professor of agronomy, and Mary 
Rezac, interim associate vice president for research and Tim Taylor chair in chemical engineering, are Kansas State University’s newest Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award winners.
The award honors Prasad and Rezac for their outstanding scholarly achievements and contributions to graduate education at Kansas State University. Each professor receives a $2,500 honorarium. The awards are supported by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Commerce Bancshares Foundation, and are coordinated through the 
Kansas State University Foundation and the university president’s office.
“Commerce Bank and the William T. Kemper Foundation are proud to continue a more than 20-year tradition of collaborating with Kansas State University to promote excellent instruction with the Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Distinguished Graduate Faculty Awards,” said Tom Giller, community bank president of Commerce Bank, Manhattan. “It is a joy to honor these exceptional graduate faculty members who excel in research, teaching and mentoring K-State students.”
Prasad and Rezac were recognized at the Fall Graduate School commencement ceremony Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 in Bramlage Coliseum. Rezac presented a lecture to the community on her research Feb. 2, 2016 in the Engineering Complex. Prasad presented a lecture on March 1, 2016 at the Alumni Association.
13 graduate students receive grants to support their research
For the second year, through the support of the Graduate School, 13 graduate students in the arts, humanities and social science fields received funding through the small research grant program.
Grants up to $1,000 were awarded to master’s and doctoral students, who are in their final year, to help support direct research costs such as travel to an archive, data collection, exhibition and performance expenses, materials and supplies. A panel of faculty in the arts, humanities and social science fields reviewed applications.
Read more about the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Small Grant Program.